My Kitchen Re-Opens...
 
My first blog entry written on cranberry juice was put up on 26 January this year. I experienced a hard drive crash between posting Piedmontese Peppers and Best Therapy: Bake Bread. In late April after a two week visit with our boys we returned home at 6 AM one morning to hear click-click-click-click etc. The clicking was five shorted out electric ignitors on the gas stove top because there had been a leak in the upstairs utility room. The kitchen ceiling was caving-in in several places, there was standing water all over the floor, there was water running from several places in the ceiling and two hanging light fixtures were filled and dripping water. Upstairs there was standing water in the closet next to the utility room, water all over the utility room floor, standing water in the bedroom on the other-side of the utility room. What a wonderful home coming off a red-eye flight! This is not a plea for sympathy. My kitchen is restored to it’s previous state and I am a very happy girl. If you care to check, from this post on 28 April until today, everything I’ve presented here has been put forth in what I laughingly but affectionately called “My Dirt Floor Kitchen”. My Dirt Floor Kitchen means that anything that I had sitting out on open shelves was packed up and put in the garage.  A few cabinet doors were damaged and their contents were packed up or put some where else out of the way. The ceiling came down and then had to be replaced. There was a time while all the floor was torn up and wood replaced. I lost over 30 of my cookbooks to water damage and removed all the rest to my upstairs office.  For the two weeks it took to sand, stain and refinish the hardwood floors, my kitchen was a sink, an under the counter refrigerator, a micro-wave and a crock pot (grits) in the offending upstairs utility room. We ate out mostly. It was very interesting to see what I missed that was packed. You might think it was something big but it’s those little simple things that bring us pleasure. There were two things I kept reaching for that just weren't there any more: the old juicer I’ve used forever and the nutmeg grater I’ve had for several years. They are merrily back in their usual spot! And now I’m celebrating and showing you my first real cooking in my fully restored kitchen! I’m still waiting for the replacement of a chopping block and my chopping block table, but they will arrive. I’m not fully unpacked but still I feel Happy Days are here again! I know I’m really lucky to have the kitchen I did and do again. I was happy with my kitchen the way it was.  Did I change anything? The book shelves went from looking like this.  To looking like this. And I’m still considering if I don’t want to put all the books back or leave the “things”. The major change to me here is not actually the fewer cookbooks but is the “notebooks” that you see in the lower left of the second photo. That is not due to the “flood” as I call it but is due to blogging. The notebooks contain my recipes divided into chapters, printed out as I add and subtract and now when I find a recipe on a blog I want to try, it goes into the appropriate chapter. The only thing that is new/different - and it’s a real biggie - was the stove top was replaced. The old one had lose grates that made it ridiculous, you couldn’t really slide a pot on a burner, forget about sliding to another burner. Now, I can slide to my heart’s and pot’s content! So what did I cook? I wanted to make something I’d never done before. I baked white bread. Yea, yea, I know I’ve baked lots of bread. But, I’ve never baked white bread! Fougasse And Fougasse is a bit special; I’ve not ever done them before either. Now, don’t laugh. They aren’t perfect...this is life after all. But, I thought they were pretty breathtaking when they came out of the oven, funny shape and all. They smelled and tasted great. I will be doing these again and I will be trying some whole grain flour. Our main course was Butternut Squash Enchiladas that I made up. I sautéed onion, garlic and mushrooms, roasted Anaheim peppers, baked butternut squash mixed together and rolled in corn tortillas in a casserole. Topped the Enchiladas with green sauce and a touch of cheese. Baked for 25 minutes at 350°. I’m really sorry I forgot to take a picture. Between the wonderful Fougasse and the dessert, as tasty as the Enchiladas were, I missed the photo op. And dessert? Last night it simply had to be. Can you wait till tomorrow? Sure you can. After all, I’ve waited all these months for My Dirt Floor Kitchen to resolve. A hint? You want a hint? Well, one of the main parts of the dessert is in the pot with the whisk in it on the stove top.B77AD259-A539-4455-B089-64153D329F82.html50BADC7A-8C59-4D05-823B-110953CCA9C5.html63294E7D-DB86-464D-AEC8-437253B0B4BC.htmlD216C560-738F-4A7B-B00A-3923B33F7EF7.html3FD2BCAB-10BC-4D32-83CA-0B40F4214DF2.htmlshapeimage_1_link_0shapeimage_1_link_1shapeimage_1_link_2shapeimage_1_link_3shapeimage_1_link_4
Celebration...
Monday, August 14, 2006
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